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—————- The next find out more meeting for our March programme is on Tuesday 23rd February which is in [cntdwn todate=”31 March 2020 23:59″ timeoff=”0″ showhours=”0″ showmins=”0″ pretext=””] Check myrise.co.uk/briefing-meeting to find out more, see what the meeting involves and, potentially, take that next step to transforming your life and body 🙂 ———————-
So this blog won’t actually work.
Not like I intended it to.
But………..
It not being quite right kinda proves the point I’m going to talk about.
So that’s good.
It was my friend Dan’s 40th birthday the other day.
We went to Flight Club (one of those funky darts bars in Victoria in London).
A top night was had by all as they say.
But it was a long day.
I was up to get my workout in, get the kids up and school, etc at 5.15am.
And I got the last train back up from London so I could take the dog for her trim while the wife took the youngest to tennis the next morning.
And, to be honest, I didn’t want to waste half of Saturday getting home.
So it was about 2am by the time I got into bed.
Then the dog had me up yapping at 5.45am.
So I was pretty tired.
To be honest, sleep is one of the things that I struggle to get enough of at the best of times.
I’m a ‘good sleeper’.
It’s just a combination of children and work have meant that I’ve been somewhere between a couple and, maybe, seven hours short per night.
For all but two of the last 11 1/2 years (that blissful period where Jamie had started sleeping well, Charlie hadn’t been born yet and I had only one 5am start).
So, I’m more tired than I would like to be most days.
And I was really, really tired on that Saturday.
Almost Zombie like.
And, do you know what?
I really couldn’t be bothered making what you might call the ‘better’ food choices.
Punching it into MyFitnessPal seemed such an effort.
And I just felt like having the most convenient, sugar heavy thing (there was cake in the fridge from World Book Day and Frosties in the cupboard).
So, I made a note under the ‘Blogs in progress’ section on my phone.
“Bjork knew”.
I was going to use the lines from her famous song “I’m oh so tired” as a lead in to this story.
Only one problem.
Writing this out now, I remember it was “It’s oh so quiet”.
But, I think that kinda makes the point even more.
I was so tired I couldn’t accurately remember the title of Bjork songs.
And I think that’s probably the ultimate definition of tired 😉
But, the general point is still valid.
I get it.
We all get it.
Making better food choices can be tricky sometimes.
And it’s even harder when we’re tired.
———– Exercise can seem even more tiring when we first get back into it. But it soon becomes energising. And help focus. Check myrise.co.uk/briefing-meeting if you’d like to find out more about an approach that is designed to make it all as easy as possible, not that constant struggle! ————
We have less focus and enthusiasm for it.
We feel a bit rubbish and, naturally, desire something that will make us feel a bit better quickly.
So, what’s the answer to that?
As a general approach, being less tired will help.
Incredibly obvious, we know.
But all the little things we can do to help with that will help with the food and all other aspects of any changes we want to make.
Going to bed that little earlier, a more consistent sleep and waking time where possible, minimising exposure to screens in the last bit of time before bed, leaving the phone elsewhere, black out blinds, relaxation methods before bed (bath, book, meditation, etc), maybe a magnesium salt bath (many swear by this) and so on.
None of these are particularly thrilling, sure.
But they can all help.
We get that often that last bit of the day is “me time” and that we don’t feel like rushing off to bed.
But little tweaks to increase duration and / or quality of sleep by, maybe, 10 or 20% can make the world of difference.
You’ll be pleased to know that I didn’t have the cake and cereal.
I would have if the other options had been more effort.
But I’d foreseen this.
Like some sort of Jedi master.
And made some extra when I sorted my meals a couple of days before.
So there was food plated up ready for me on that Saturday.
If I’d had to cook completely from scratch I probably wouldn’t have bothered.
Popping it in the microwave while I did something else for a couple of minutes was fine.
It was zero extra effort on that Thursday.
Seconds at most.
But that little bit of planning ahead helped when it was needed.
We don’t need to map out and batch cook every meal of the week (we can if we like though).
But, sometimes, a bit of tactical thought about what’s coming up can help us put things in place to make the (joint) easiest option a better one.
It’s kinda too late if we already get too Tired And Hungry O Clock and have to sort something from scratch then.
Ultimately, the point is, we get it.
Bjork knew!
Being tired can make the better decisions harder.
So, therefore, the answer lies in some combination of;
– Doing things to be less tired and
– Making the ‘better’ choices as easy as possible in advance.
Much love,
Jon ‘Possibly Maybe’ Hall
